Flake ice making machine



July 11, 1950 F. A. RIGBY FLAKE 10E MAKING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed Feb. 25, 1946 INVENTOR. FLOYD A. RIGBY ATTORN EY Jilly 1950 F. A. RIGBY Re. 23,247

FLAKE ICE MAKING MACHINE Qrigina l Filed Feb. 25, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

FLOYD A. R IGBY ATTORNEY Reissued July 11, 1950 FLAKE ICE MAKING MACHINE Floyd A. Rigby, Portland, Oreg.

Original No. 2,490,324, dated December 6, 1949,

Serial No. 649,971, February 25, 1946. Application i'or reissue March 16, 1950, Serial No.

7 Claims. '(01. 62107) Matter enclosed in heavy brackets appears in the original patent but forms no part of this reissue specification; matter printed in italics indicates the additions niade by reissue This invention relatesto machines for; making a liquid while running over an inclined surface,

after which the same is removed from the surface by a scraper and delivered into a delivery chute.

A further object of the invention is to provide a freezing machine that can be adjusted for making flake ice of various thickness or coarseness.

A further object of the invention is to provide means for readily interchanging the supply of liquid to be frozen to any flavor or type of mixture.

And a still further. object of the invention is to provide easy access to the freezing chamber for the cleansing of the machine.

These and other incidental objects will be apparent in. the drawings, specifications and.

claims.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure l is a perspective front view of a machine for making flake ice.

Figure 2. is a. plan. sectional view, taken on line 2-2 of Figure 3 looking into thefreezing chamber.

Figure 3 is a side sectional view of the assembled machine.

In the drawings:

My new and improved flake ice making machine consists of a cone shaped freezing unit I mounted within a cabinet 2. This freezing unit consists of a refrigerant jacket- 3 adjacent its inner wall 4. The refrigerant jacket 3 is insulated by suitable insulating material 5, which is encased within the outer wall 8 of the freezing unit. The inner refrigerated wall or surface 4 tapers inwardly from the top edge I to the lower or bottom edge 8.

Two or more scrapers 9 contact the surface 4 and rotate in the direction of the arrows. These scrapers or blades are mounted to the perpendicushaft it, which is journalled within suitable bearings l i and E2. The lower ends of the scrapers 9 are secured to the arms l3, which in turn are provided with a hub I4, which is secured to the shaft it: by any suitable fastening means, as key 15. The upper ends of the scrapers are secured to the arms l6 which form part of the bowl i! which in turn is part of the hub l8 secured to the shaft Ill.

The arms it are hollow for communicating with the liquid 19 contained within the bowl l1.

This liquid is delivered through the arm to the dischargepoint 20, which follows the scrapers 9 in their rotation delivering the liquid to be frozen or flaked onto the surface 4, which freezes the liquid as it runs down over the inclined surface being frozen as it travels towards the lower part Of the freezing unit. This freezing takes place rapidly, and before the next scraper reaches a given point any the surface 4, the liquid [the same] will have been flaked or frozen on the surface 4.

The freezing unit[s] is supplied by refrigerant from a compressor unit 2| through the expansion valve 22 into the lower part of the refrigerant jacket 3. The refrigerant is returned to the re.- frigerating machine from the point 23 by way of tubing 24. The usual automatic control unit 25 is supplied for controlling the expansion valve 22. The scraper blades 9 are rotated by the vertical shaft I0, which in turn is driven by the pulley 2t, belt 21, speed. reducer 2B and the motor 29.

A'vertical thrust bearing is provided for supporting the weight ofigthe shaft l0 and the scrapers 9. This thrust bearing can be raised and lowered by a yoke ill and bell crank 32, which is pivotally mounted at 39 to the bearing It. The bell crank is operated through the rod 34' and the adjusting knob 35; the object of this ad.- iustment is to govern the pressure of the blades 9 against the surface 4. This adjustment is quite important to smooth operation of the machine and can be made easily by the operator of the same.

The liquid to be frozen is contained within a container 36 and anautomatlc magnetic valve 3! admits the; liquid into the bowl ll when the control switch 38 is operated for starting and operating the motor 29. The switch 38 includes two buttons,v the depression ofone of which causes the closing of the circuit while the depression of the other opens the circuit. In other words, unless the scrapers El are revolving, no liquid can enter the freezing unit until the motor 29 is brought into operation revolving the rotors.

The electric wire 39 plugs into the valve unit at 49 and can be readily removed. The liquid container 35, including the valve, can be removed from the machine whenever desired, the valve assembly can be removed from the container 36 and placed on another container having either the same liquid or a different type of liquid to be frozen or flaked. I do not wish to be limited to a unit of this kind as the liquid could be piped directly into the machine by ordinary piping, which would also be controlled by 3 a valve hooked up in synchronism with the motor 29.

In order to cleanse the machine, an insulated top 41' is provided. The wiring 42 leading to the motor can be unplugged at 43 so that the top and switch mechanism can be removed from the machine.

I will now describe the operation of the machine in the freezing or flaking of ice. The container 36 is placed on the machine, together with the valve 31 and the connections 40 made. When the switch 38 is closed, the motor '29 will receive electric energy from the source of supply 44, magnetic valve 31 will also be operated admitting liquid from the container '36 into the bowl I! and the liquid will be discharged through the arms l li andthe outlets 2 over the inclined freezing surface 4. The blades '9 will be revolved by the operating of the motor 29 and the freezing and scraping operation will continue, the scrapers 9 scraping the frozen material from th surface '4 delivering it into the chute 45 from the discharge point 46 and delivering the same by way of the chute 45 into the container 41.

' One of the outstanding features of my invention is that due to the sloping or inclining of the freezing surface, the liquid has a chance to be completely frosted before itreaches thedischarge point of the refrigerating unit. If this surface were not sloping, there would always be an over- -flow of liquid through the discharge that would be mixed with the finished product and would have to be drained off in some manner; therefore by using an inclined freezing surface, I eliminate this difliculty.

I do not wish to be limited to the exact mechanical structure shown, as other mechanical equivalents may be substituted still coming within the scope of my claims.

WhatIclaimasnew is:

1. A flake ice making machine, including a container, a downwardly convergent refrigerating element mounted in the container and presenting a relatively smooth surface, means for delivering refrigerant to such refrigerating element, means adjustable axially of the refrigerating element for deliveringthe fluid to be frozen to the smooth inner surface of the refrigerating element,

and scrapers connected to fluid delivering means 'opening to receive such scraped material and deliver it beyond the container.

3- A co truc n s d fi ed in claim 1..w 1

4 the material to be frozen is delivered to the surface of the refrigerating element from a tank to a receptacl within the container, and delivery piping for the material from the receptacle to the inner surface of the refrigerating element, the scrapers being supported by the piping.

4. A construction as defined in claim 1, wherein the first means are provided for delivering a refrigenant to the lower end and outer surface of the refrigerating element and wherein further means are provided for extracting or removing the refrigerant from the upper and outer end of the refrigerating element.

5. A construction as defined in claim 1, wherein the means for delivering the fluid to be frozen to the refrigerating element, includes a tank having pipe connection with the interior of the container, with such pipe connection and tank freely removable from the container to provide for substitution of tanks of other material.

6. A construction as defined in claim 1, wherein the means for delivering the fluid to be frozen to the refrigerating element, includes a tank having pipe connection with the interior of the container, with such pipe connection and tank freely removable from the container to provide for substitution of tanks of other material, and wherein the pipe is provided with a magnetic valve for controlling the flow, and means for operating the valve.

'7. A flake ice making machine, including a container, an inverted conical refrigerating element supported in th container, means for delivering the refrigerant to the outer surface of the refrigerating element, means for delivering the fluid to be frozen onto the [outer] inner surface of the refrigerating element, means for scraping the frozen material from the inner surface of the refrigerating element and manually operable means for adjusting the position of the scraping means to vary its scraping contact.

FLOYD A. RIGBY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,064,597 Engelmann Dec. 15, 1936 2,080,639 Taylor May 18, 1937 2,228,998 Birdseye Jan. 14, 1941 2,282,862 Genova May 12, 1942 2,415,585 Genova Feb. 11, 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 591,123 Germany Jan. 17, 1934 

